Armed with over 100 instruments, these brilliant musicians perform music from the movies that made Clint Eastwood a star.

The stunning Ennio Morricone soundtrack includes The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, For A Few Dollars More and Once Upon a Time in The West.

This ingenious gang of comic maestros underscore these classic compositions with hilarious sound effects... blowing on bottles, crushing cornflakes, ‘playing' coathangers, apples, squeaky toys, rubbergloves, bicycle pumps, nailclippers and many more - recreating every punch up, gunshot, and jangling spur that define the gun slinging west.

Audiences across the world have been amazed and enthralled by this international sensation. Not to be missed.

Click on this link to see the Orchestra's performance on BBC TV's Later with Jools Holland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVzjvRbv8xw

MORE STUFF...

The show is highly original and a new genre of concert performance. Five musicians are all multi instrumentalists and create a full orchestra sound playing a hundred instruments. It is inventive, funny and the musicians play the music brilliantly.

The Orchestra play 100 instruments including the remarkable Theremin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin, orchestral timpani, a vibraphone as well as 'made instruments' – cornflakes, a child's boot, an asthma inhaler, knives and coat hangers!

What STOMP does with rhythm and 'made instruments' and CIRQUE DE SOLEIL did with circus and acrobats; SPAGHETTI WESTERN ORCHESTRA does with film soundtracks and musicians.

The show is very funny and often moving - it has 'CINEMA PARADISO' magic and nostalgia moments. The music is very rich and lush and exciting. The Orchestra are incredibly skilled multi-instrumentalists.

No sex, no violence and kids love it – they love the invention and the visual comedy, as well as the exciting music and it appeals to a mixed age range audience.

The audience are invited to join in – they feel a part of the show. The show ends with all guns blazing and with the audience singing along.

The show has consistently received standing ovations.

Makes westerns feel sexy and intelligent..very hip.
Spike Jones does Ennio Morricone.

Presenters worldwide love the show.

Composer-conductor Ennio Morricone, has composed more than 300 motion picture scores over a 45-year career. He won an Honorary Oscar in 2007. His film music includes THE MISSION, THE UNTOUCHABLES and CINEMA PARADISO. www.enniomorricone.com

The lighting and staging is visually beautiful and striking. The look of the costumes and musicians is similar to television's DEADWOOD.

There is an 'invisible storyline' - each musician is a character who comes alive again at the beginning of the show – conjured by the sunrise, to bring the music to life again.

It has a ROCKY HORROR and HAIRSPRAY cult feelgood factor about it.

This is a show that reverses the roles of Morricone and Sergio Leone….in the movies, Leone's images were the main character and Morricone's musical scores were the big hovering shadows…now Morricone takes the spotlight and Leone's colors sit backstage.

The show is an excellent tie-in to film and theatre and music studies in colleges.

USEFUL LINKS

www.youtube.com/sworchestra
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_Western
www.enniomorricone.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Leone
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin

ACTORS WHO APPEARED IN THE FILMS

Clint Eastwood
Charles Bronson
Henry Fonda
Rod Steiger
James Coburn
Jason Robards
Claudia Cardinale
Lee Van Cleef
Eli Wallach
Klaus Kinski

If you would like information on future tour dates - please email alex@ghmp.co.uk

and we will let you know news when we have it

ATHENS

September 2009

Wed 16 to Fri 25 Badminton Theater www.badmintontheater.gr

NETHERLANDS and BELGIUM

Mon 28 Stadsschouwburg, Ljmuiden 8.15pm www.stadsschouwburgvelsen.nl

Tues 29 De Oosterpport, Groningen 8pm www.de-oosterpoort.nl

Wed 30 Cuultuurcentrum, Hasselt 8pm www.ccha.be

October

Thu 1 Theater de Veste, Delft 8.15pm www.theaterdeveste.nl

Fri 2 Frits Philips, Eindhoven 8.15pm www.muziekcentrum.nl

Sat 3 Purmaryn Theatre, Pumerend 8.15pm www.depurmaryn.nl

Sun 4 Stadsschouwberg, Brugge 8.00pm www.ccbrugge.be

LONDON and BRIGHTON UK

Wed 7 QEH, Southbank Centre, London 7.30pm www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Thu 8 QEH, Southbank Centre, London 7.30pm www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Fri 9 Brighton Corn Exchange 8pm www.brightondome.org

Sat 10 Brighton Corn Exchange 5pm and 8pm www.brightondome.org

FRANCE

Sun 11 Le Channel Calais 6.30pm www.lechannel.org

Tue 13 Salle Poirel, Nancy 8.30pm www.nancyjazzpulsations.com

Wed 14 La Comete, Chalon en Campagne 8.45pm www.la-comete.fr

Thu 15 Espace Jacques Prevert, Savigny Le Temple 8.45pm www.scenedumonde.fr

Fri 16 Le Pin Galant, Merignac 8.30pm www.lepingalant.com

Sat 17 La Ferme Du Bel Ebat Gyancourt 8.30pm www.lafermedebelebat.fr

Mon 19 Tourcoing Festival of Jazz 8pm www.tourcoing-jazz-festival.com

Tue 20 Corbeil Theatre 8.45pm www.theatre-corbeil-essonnes.fr

Wed 21 Cite des Congres Nantes Atlantique, Nantes 8.30pm www.congres-nantes.fr

Thu 22 Colombes/L’Avant Scene 8.30pm www.lavant-seine.com

Fri 23 Taverny Cultural Centre 8.30pm www.vile-taverny.fr

Sat 24 Theatre Firmin Gemier, La Piscine, Antony 8.30pm www.theatrefirmingemier-lapiscine.fr

ITALY

Wed 28 Ciak Theatre, Milan 9pm www.teatrociak.it
Thu 29 Ciak Theatre, Milan 9pm
Fri 30 Ciak Theatre, Milan 9pm
Sat 31 Ciak Theatre, Milan 9pm

November

Sun 1 Ciak Theatre, Milan 6pm

Fri 6 Ciak Theatre, Milan 9pm
Sat 7 Ciak Theatre, Milan 9pm
Sun 8 Ciak Theatre, Milan 6pm

Tue 10 Saschall Theatre, Florence 9pm www.saschall.it

Thu 12 Manzoni Theatre, Bologna 9pm www.auditoriumanzoni.it
Fri 13 Manzoni Theatre, Bologna 9pm www.auditoriumanzoni.it

PAST TOURING

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra premiered in 2007 and was the sell-out hit of The Montreal Jazz Festival. It then played L’Europeen Theatre in Paris, the St Pauli Theatre in Hamburg, the Koln Philharmonie and The Athenaeum Theatre In Melbourne.In 2008, the show returned to Montreal for the En Lumiere Festival at the Outremont Theatre.

The show completed a four week season in Paris playing at the Cafe De la Danse Theatre from Sept 16 to Oct 11 2008.
Spaghetti Western Orchestra then played The Harbourfront Centre, Toronto from 17 to 19 Oct and toured across North America for three weeks.

We are currently booking a 2010 European Tour (October to December).
We have availability at other periods during the year.
Please contact michael@ghmp.co.uk

CORPORATE/PRIVATE BOOKINGS

Spaghetti Western Orchestra has a shortened set available for these events. For more information please contact michael@ghmp.co.uk

NEW LIVE SHOW CD AVAILABLE TO BUY HERE

Please note that orders placed before December 18 shall be guaranteed same day despatch. Orders place after 18 Dec and over the Christmas and New Year Holidays maybe subject to delay. Your understanding is appreciated.

 

THE MUSIC

The Maestro’s Music in the show.
All compositions by Ennio Morricone

The Man With The Harmonica from the film Once Upon A Time In The West

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly from the film of the same name

A Gringo Like Me from the film Gunfight At Red Sands

Farewell To Cheyenne from the film Once Upon A Time In The West

Chi Mai from the film Maddalena

A Fistful Of Dollars from the film of the same name

Valkyries from the film My Name Is Nobody

For A Few Dollars More from the film of the same name

Ecstasy of Gold from the film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Two Mules For Sister Sara from the film of the same name

Death Rides A Horse from the film of the same name

The Chase from the film A Fistful of Dollars

60 Seconds To What? from the film For A Few Dollars More

Duck You Sucker from the film A Fistful of Dynamite

Once Upon A Time In The West from the film of the same name

Marcetta from the film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

A Professional Gun from the film The Mercenary

THE ORCHESTRA PLAY:

Asthma Inhaler, Bass Recorder, Bassoon, Bells, Birdwings Sound Effect, Body Drop
Sound Effect, Bouncy Ball Pump, Castanets, Chickens Sound Effect, Child Sized
Boot, Claves, Coat Hangers (2), Concert Bass Drum, Concert Tom Toms, Cornflakes
(Small Packet and Large Packet), Creaky Door Sound Effect, Deck Of Cards, Double
Bass, Drum Kit, Dutch Clog & Tambourine Jingles, Egg Shakers, Electronic Sampler,
Fake Glasses, Film Canister, Bird Whistle, Finger Cymbals (2), Footsteps Sound Effect,
Frog Clicker, Harmonica (Working), Harmonica (Broken), Horseshoe, Jews Harps (6),
Kat Midi Controller (2 Octaves), Kitchen Knife with Sharpening Steel, Latchbolt Sound
Effect, Mandolin, Maracas (I Pair), Melodeon (2), Nail Clippers, Nail File, Ocarina, One
Note Saxophone, Orchestral Whip, Packaging Tape (1 Roll), Pan Pipes, Piano, Plastic
Bags (2), Policeman’s Whistle, Ratchet, Reel- To-Reel Tape Machine, Sticks And Twigs
(Locally Sourced), String Can, Suspended Cymbals, Synthesizer, Tam Tam, Tasmanian
Lottery Balls, Theremin, Timpani (3), Tin Whistle (5), Trumpet, Tuned Beer Bottles (11),
Two Tone Whistle, Ukulele, Vibraphone Wind Machine, Wooden Cowbells.

 

 

Boris Conley is...THE GOLDSCHMELLER

Favourite Spaghetti Western Film Once Upon A Time In The West

Favourite Spaghetti Western Actor Eli Wallach

Favourite Line '…everybody here has become very rich or else they are dead'.
from Fistful of Dollars, spoken by the bell-ringer to the Man With No Name as he enters town.

WHY I LOVE THIS SHOW

"When we play the Morricone themes we imagine that we are in the world of the movies. Sometimes I look around on stage and see only four other performers and wonder how we make such a huge sound. I love playing the pipe organ solo from “For A Few Dollars More” where the audience can feel the basso profundo tones vibrating their seats”

BIOGRAPHY

After studies at the Canberra School of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts, Boris forged a career as a composer, musician and performer in theatre. His early experience in these roles included musical director of The Flying Fruit Fly Circus and the co-composition of the highly acclaimed music theatre piece Cho Cho San, an adaptation of the Madame Butterfly story.

He has composed the music for numerous visual theatre shows including The Reading Boy, Viva la Vida Frida and The Paperbag Princess for Handspan Theatre. For the Melbourne Theatre Company he played piano for Knuckledusters - The Gems of Edith Sitwell, and was the musician for Gulliver's Travels. Boris also composed Aqua, a dance piece for the Australian Ballet, and The Witch of Endor, a short opera for OzOpera.

As a performer he appeared on Frontline (ABC TV) and more recently in Chamber Made Opera's production of Phobia and in Spaghetti Western Orchestra and The Session.

JESS CIAMPA is...THE LIETELLER

We are delighted that Jess is joing the Orchestra for the Autumn Tour 2009

Favourite Spaghetti Western Film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Favourite Spaghetti Western Actor Lee Van Cleef

Favourite Line 'In 10 minutes you'll be smoking in hell' Wild to Colonel Mortimer in For A Few Dollars More

BIOGRAPHY

Jess Ciampa intended to become a trumpet player but he switched to percussion and drums during his training years at the Sydney Conservatorium, where he graduated with a BMus.Ed. in 1986. A truly versatile and adaptable musician with multi-instrumental and theatre skills, he is just as comfortable performing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as he is with the Spaghetti Western Orchestra. Among his many credits are shows (Lion King, Miss Saigon), bands (Deborah Conway, Don Burrows, Dale Barlow), Latin bands (Espirito, Mucho Mumbo), film soundtracks (Australia, Happy Feet), television (Australian Idol) and a six-week season with The Flying Fruit Fly Circus at the New Victory Theatre on Broadway in NYC.

Graeme Leak is...THE BANKTELLER

Favourite Spaghetti Western Film I can't name a favourite...I really can't!

Favourite Spaghetti Western Actor and Line Rod Steiger lives in my memory the longest, especially when he says to his young son during a coach robbery ‘How many times have I told you – no shooting unless Papa pulls the trigger!’ (from A Fistful of Dynamite)

WHY I LOVE THIS SHOW

"The show is full of wonderful moments for me and it’s hard to play favourites but performing the theme from Once Upon a Time in the West on Theremin is right up there. I imagine that I’m a ridiculously high soprano (I play the theme an octave or sometimes two higher than humanly possible) filling the auditorium with a beautiful alien voice. In general, I love the way we’ve managed as an ensemble over the years to bring what are usually considered non-musical performance elements (noises, sound effects, odd instruments, character gestures and movements, grunting even) together to make musical sense. The way Morricone combined the music of the soul with the music of the everyday in such a powerful way in the Spaghetti Western scores is still my primary inspiration".

BIOGRAPHY

Graeme Leak is an acclaimed performer and composer with a background in percussion and drumming. He studied at the Sydney Conservatorium under Alard Maling and Jack Purdon and in 1985 he lived and studied in New York.

Graeme's diverse activities include a decade (the 1980s) of contemporary music performance championing new Australian composition, solo performances in comedy, cabaret, concert hall, theatre and nightclub venues and many innovative projects in music-theatre, dance and improvised music. In November 2001 he led over 500 bell ringers in a massed performance at the Myer Music Bowl for the closing concert of the Melbourne International Arts Festival. In 2003 he completed an outback project for the Queensland Music Festival where he designed, built and led the locals in playing a Musical Fence.

In 2005 he wrote and directed The Incredible Hulls, a work for a floating 'orchestra' of up to 100 boats and in 2006 he wrote and directed the closing Finale for a 'superstar' World Percussion Spectacular, performed by 160 percussionists from around the world as part of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Shannon Birchall is...THE YOUNGFELLER

We are delighted that Shannon is joining the Orchestra for the Autumn Tour 2009

Favourite Spaghetti Western Film Once Upon A Time in the West

Favourite Character Cheyenne (Jason Robards)

Favourite Lines

Yeah go on, play harmonica. Play so you can't bullshit. Only watch those false notes.

and

You know Jill, you remind me of my mother: she was the biggest whore in Alameda and the finest woman that ever lived. Whoever my father was, for an hour or for a month, he must have been a happy man.

 

BIOGRAPHY

Shannon picked up the bass at age 15 after playing violin for eight years. Training as an orchestral musician while playing jazz and studying at the Victorian College of the Arts, he began working with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Later he toured Europe, North America and Russia with traditional-jazz influenced punk-band The Hoodangers and to Scandinavia with The Band Who Knew Too Much. He has sometimes sizzled with the Austro-Cuban septet Sally Ford and the Pachuco Playboys, occasionally cooked mariachi-style violin in tex-mex band Texicali Rose, and readily boiled bass in The John Butler Trio. Theatre appearances include the Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2002 production of True West and Urinetown in 2004, as well as Chamber Made Opera's production of Phobia in 2006.

Patrick Cronin is...THE STORYTELLER

Favourite Spaghetti Western Film For A Few Dollars More

Favourite Spaghetti Western Actor Franco Nero as Django

Favourite Line 'Hey Amigo, you know you’ve got a face beautiful enough to be worth 2,000 dollars?'

WHY I LOVE THIS SHOW

"For me, the Spaghetti Western Orchestra is a fantastic performance vehicle. It is a challenging show that draws on everything I’ve learnt in my twin backgrounds in music and comedy. But what gives me the greatest satisfaction is working with the guys as an ensemble. Five of us creating this layered soundscape of music, sound effects and text demands a discipline and sensitivity towards the whole performance that tempers my natural tendency toward unbridled and selfish upstaging - the SWO is good for my moral fibre. Then there is the music itself. Performing Morricone’s scores is a rich and rewarding musical experience - heroic western themes, delicate slow passages, crazed bar room honky tonk. The music is beautifully composed and a joy to play, and how else do I get to whistle for a living?”

BIOGRAPHY

Since 1985 Patrick has worked in theatre, comedy, music theatre and outdoor performance with a variety of theatre companies and performance ensembles including Chamber Made Opera, Melbourne Theatre Company, Melbourne Workers Theatre, The Cabbage Brothers and The Men Who Knew Too Much. Patrick's musical interests have taken him from 30s swing to latin to film music with bands such as Texicali Rose, Sally Ford and the Pachuco Playboys, The Melbourne Ska Orchestra and The Spaghetti Western Orchestra. As a creative producer, Patrick has produced numerous events for Melbourne International Arts Festival - highlights include the original commissioning of The Urban Dream Capsule, The Vic Health Festival of Music, Singing in the Square, Bells and Brass at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and the Opening Night Celebrations of the 1995 & 1996 Festivals. He has also curated music events for the Victorian Arts Centre and was an Artistic Consultant to Our Nation On Parade as part of the 2001 Centenary of Federation Celebrations.

Director & Designer : DENIS BLAIS

DENIS BLAIS
Denis Blais was born and raised in Quebec
Educated at Algonquin College and Ottawa University, he studied Radio and Television Broadcasting focusing on Journalism, Set Design and Editing.
After college, he worked as a Club DJ and special events coordinator/ choreographer for over 20 years in Canada , United States and Germany.
Denis was the co-founder of the seminal Belgo restaurants in London, where he applied his design and branding skills.
He founded the SPM Home project in Cape Town to assist and shelter the homeless and designed and conceptualized private residences and other restaurant projects in London, Cape Town and New-York.
Denis produces and manages the highly successful Classical concert pianist James Rhodes .
He became Director and Designer of The Spaghetti Western Orchestra in 2006.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

No soundtracks have ever helped so much a series of film deliver and define its genre as much as the EM scores for Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns. The musical imagery was completely woven into the visual psyche of the viewer.

These reflections brought me to the concept: what if musical scores were to come to life. Not in visual adaptations; but in surreal live performance. A reincarnation of pauses, grunts, notes and gestures.

In the days of Silent Movies the musical scores were played live. The actors on the screen looked somewhat ghostly and over exposed in their white make up and black eyeliner features. The musical narrative was imperative to the atmosphere of the film. There was a certain magic in that. So I thought physical theatre/comedy. Big Shadows. That’s what the sounds look and feel like. But what about the great facial expressions? If we were to go into large concert halls and theatres, how were we to be able to pick up those smirks and grimaces? I remembered the Robert Wilson panto/operetta’s performances, I had gone to see, such as Black Rider and Woycezk, seated in row Y or X. I could see almost every detail because of one thing: the make up. Then I went back to look at old silent movies and felt that I had found, in part, the solution. I felt it completely unnecessary to have projected film to assist the concerts. We are always spoon fed everything today and too often we leave a show feeling lazy and unsurprised by the explicitness of the whole experience. It’s the old problem of adaptation. How many times do they turn a book into a film only for the reader to be severely disappointed. It falls simply on the fact that we IMAGINED it differently when we read it. Yes we created our very own visual landscape. So it should be with The Spaghetti Western Orchestra concert.

We must drive the imagination and stir the souls of past memories. Let the audience dream and try to remember when they first saw the films: where they were, what scene was this in, what it felt like.

We will have visual effects but they will not be used as cerebral imagery fillers. They will take the shape of large colour fields and figurative shadows.

The stage set is a blank page: white cyclorama and white stage floor. The story is told as you perform it. It absorbs the performance and casts long exaggerated shadows like the grunts and squeaks you emit. You leave a very large visual footprint through the music and atmosphere you create. The three large orange acrylic discs look like giant gel-like cymbals. They push the constant elegiac tryptonic themes Leone was so obsessed with: innocence, death and revenge. Think of the TRILOGY: Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

So it is with this train of thought that we position an invisible story line. The word invisible conjures shadows and spirits. The musicians are five ghosts/spirits that were left in the visual graveyard coming back to spook or should I say enchant us into a state of time regained/borrowed and buried. Enter: STORYTELLER, BANKTELLER, LIETELLER, GOLDSCHMELLER AND YOUNGFELLER.

lighting designer : KEITH TUCKER

sound design : STEPH O’HARA

producer : GLYNIS HENDERSON

See www.ghmp.co.uk for more information on GLYNIS HENDERSON PRODUCTIONS

If you would like to get up to date news on the Orchestra or send us feedback......

please email michael@ghmp.co.uk

COMMENTS FROM THEATRES AND AUDIENCE

We wholeheartedly recommend the work of your band to our readers.
Keep up the great work.
Nick Joy
Reviewer and Features Writer - Film Score Monthly

I became aware of SWO, after seeing them on Jools Holland's show. Have watched them time and time again. Absolutely stunning !. It would be amazing to see them for real.
Michael Wilkins

My husband and I heard the SW Orchestra on the BBC and your
spot on Jools Holland!
We are now bursting to see SWO live!
Cheers
Alma

Just seen the band on Jools Holland - blew me away, absolutely brilliant!
Marjorie Watters

We've just got back home after seeing your concert at Chalons-en-Champagne....what a fabulously entertaining evening. We couldn't get over how multi-talented all the musicians are. It's been a long time since we've seen anything as good as this.
Bill and Ruth Moore

Saw you on Jools Holland last night and thought you were great.
Lisa Bunce

I saw the SWO perform tonight in Nantes, France, and absolutely loved the performance. My cheeks hurt afterward from smiling and laughing so much! I've never had so much fun at a concert.
Kate Thomas

Saw the Orchestra on Jools Holland and was stunned….absolutely brilliant, so sorry I missed their live performance.
John Stewart

How fantastic the show was...congratulations - they really are a lovely group of people.
Tanya Carinci - Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada

Great show! Loved every minute.
Leigh Chandler - Head of Marketing at Flynn Centre, Burlington, USA

I loved it!
Philip Morris - Director at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, USA

Their antics are dramatic and comedic while the music is performed beautifully. I believe this is going to go down in Cowan Center history as one of everyone’s favorites.
Susan Tomae-Morphew - Director at the Cowan Center, Tyler, USA

LATEST PRESS QUOTES 2009

The musicians are amazing. A true spectacle.
Angelo Foletto, La Repubblica, Italy

Spaghetti Western Orchestra is a miracle.
Corriere della Sera, Italy

An endearing, impressive show.
The Guardian, UK ****

Take the magnificent music of Ennio Morricone, add five multi-talented, unashamedly theatrical Australians with impeccable comedy timing and let them loose on 100 instruments and you have some idea of Spaghetti Western Orchestra.
A joyous celebration.
London Evening Standard, UK ****

It is amazing that these five performers manage to get the enormous sound that would not shame any soundtrack of a Leone epic. Multi-skilled in every musical department, they are also great comedians, singers and actors who summon up the world of Morricone and Leone with consummate ease.
Classicalsource.com

PRESS QUOTES 2008

SWO dazzled with a number of Foley sequences, in which they mimicked the creation of sound effects for the films. A gunfight sequence was magical, with sounds coming from boxes of cereal, collard greens and cabbages, wooden clogs, nail files and a frog clicker.
Times Union, Schnectady, NY

If Pink Floyd met Frank Zappa and the Blue Man Group over a few sarsparillas and a fist-fight in a saloon, the aftermath would result in the gritty, retro-jazz-cat collective known as the Spaghetti Western Orchestra.
Edward Burke (AKA DJ Seamus) on WWPV 88.7-FM “The Mike” 29 Oct 2009

An absolute delight.
Classic 963fm, Canada

Brilliant comedic timing...a total charmer from start to finish.
Outreach Connection, Canada

A moving, cheeky and hilarious hommage to the genius of Morricone.
Le Parisien, France

Inspiring and brilliantly performed. This show grabs you by the collar and shoves your nose into the dust of the desert.
Commeacinema.com

One of the most inventive and refreshing shows. Wake up Ennio, these five nuts are singing your tune!
TSFJazz.com

So much more than a concert, this is an hilarious and inventive show.
AFP (National French Press Agency)

Unmissable!
Night Life, France

PRESS QUOTES 2007

As good as watching the movies themselves.
Le Devoir, Canada

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra takes Morricone’s magnificent works further than just the playing of music in a way that is thoroughly remarkable. Don't miss this magical performance.
Die Welt, Germany

A witty collage of stylised film dialogue, improvised soundtracks and sound effects. A masterpiece of first class arrangements of Ennio Morricone’s music, lovingly interspersed film quotations, and stunning acoustic and visual gags. Fully loaded musical theatre done to perfection. Don’t miss it!
Hamburger Abendblatt, Germany

‘Ayayaaaaaayyyyyhh!’ – The Spaghetti Western Orchestra is both hilarious and deadly serious.
Kölner Stadtanzeiger, Germany

Simply fantastic and a must-see show.
The Age, Australia

Pure performance - music, drama and comedy - musicianship and arrangements of the highest order.
The List, UK

That the musicians perform with the enormous gravity of a Mozart symphony only serves to make this extraordinary show all the funnier.
The Guardian, UK

Compelling theatricality and kaleidoscopic range of moods, from slapstick hilarity to authentically creepy menace. An inspired show.
The Scotsman, UK

A fistful of moody and magnificent interpretations.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

You will marvel at their ingenuity.
Metro, UK

Interview by Graeme Leak for Nikos Rallis, “Investor’s World” newspaper Greece.

1. Why did you choose to base this show on Ennio Morricone’s music? Why not Nino Rota’s or Kurt Weil’s ? Whose idea was it?

We love the way soundtracks of the Spaghetti Westerns are ‘composed’ – including the natural sounds (wind, footsteps), the dialogue (great voices!) and of course Morricone’s music. The idea occurred to us through conversations and was also inspired by a social tradition we had of playing cards, drinking whisky and smoking cigars to the very music we now perform on stage. In 2007 we started working with director/designer Denis Blais, who brought his passion for the music of Morricone and all things Spaghetti Western. With Denis we’ve created a show that combines grand musical themes of Morricone with a performance style and design that is evocative of the spirit of Director Sergio Leone’ great Spaghetti Western films – A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West.

2. Has your love for Morricone has anything to do with the fact that you’re Australian? And the particular landscape of your country?

There is no doubt a link – probably subconscious – it is rare to hear such masterful use of space such as Leone and Morricone created and there is a lot of space in Australia – our outback resonates in a similar way to the landscapes of the Spaghetti Westerns

3. Do you consider him an easy composer to play ? Or a tough one ? And why?

All music is tough to bring off successfully in performance, even the simplest of melody needs 100% commitment to that moment - Morricone is a great composer and his work is a joy to engage with as it is so well constructed, imaginative, surprising and gloriously tuneful.

4. How do you deal with all the “natural” sounds that Morricone used, and made his music so special?

This is a feature that we really wanted to bring to life on stage. We use a traditional ensemble of classical instruments (trumpet, piano, double bass, orchestral percussion and drums) to realize the scores but we also use a lot of sound effects to create wind, footsteps, creaking metal signs etc. I don’t want to describe these to your readers as the joy of our show is the surprise the audience gets when they see and hear us doing all these things. And we successfully integrate this so that the music flows naturally from a rousing Spaghetti classic to a surprising sonic interlude – and because we are having such fun the audience is never bored. We are however first and foremost devoted to the best musical performance we can give – we do not parody the music in any way.

5. Why was a director necessary for you to present Morricone’s music? Why was it important to present it as a spectacle, and not as a concert? Is it something that his music demands? Or is it maybe because you thought that a “show” would be easier to attract the audience?

Yes in some ways it is unusual for musicians to work with a director – Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone created cinematic magic with sound and image – we wanted to do the same, what they did in film we are trying to do on stage. This can only be achieved with a director’s vision and deep understanding of the genre and Denis Blais had the qualities we were looking for – he was across all areas of the production, collaborated with light and costume designers and created a stunning stage design. This allows us to widen our audience as we are drawing not only on the Morricone fans but the full spectrum of the genre that is known as Spaghetti Western. We take the audience on a journey into the films so that they can create the film in their imagination (we never actually project any footage – we use the shadows of our equipment to create a backdrop)

6. Is every sound that we’re going to listen to during the performance played live?

Yes. We do use some recorded sound in two ways: we have some background ambience such as wind, bar room chatter and the like, recorded on tape loops and we replay them using a reel-to-reel tape machine from the 1950s. The audience can see clearly what is happening here. We also occasionally use samples – musical fragments ‘triggered’ by striking a drum controller – to add breadth and depth to the live sound. And of course we all sing while we play – there are some great vocal lines for us to perform (including some grunting!).

7. Which country’s audience was the responsive? And how do you explain it?

To date we have played in Scotland, Germany, Holland, France, the USA and Australia and the response is surprisingly similar – we consistently enjoy standing ovations and rave reviews wherever we play. We are proud of the show we have created, we love rising to the challenge of creating an epic musical journey totally live on stage each night, and we are having fun. We are very excited to be coming to Greece for the first time – as you know half of Melbourne is Greek anyway so I think we’ll feel right at home!

CONTACT FOR PRESS RELEASE, PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS and PHOTOS
Please contact Michael Brazier michael@ghmp.co.uk

FOR TICKET ENQUIRIES PLEASE GO TO THE TOUR PAGE FOR THE THEATRE WEBSITES

FOR ALL INDUSTRY BOOKING ENQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Brazier

michael@ghmp.co.uk

Glynis Henderson Productions
69 Charlotte Street
London
W1T 4PJ
tel +44 (0) 207 580 9644

www.ghmp.co.uk

GLYNIS HENDERSON PRODUCTIONS

WORLDWIDE MANAGEMENT

Glynis Henderson Productions Ltd produces, general manages and represents a variety of theatre, music and dance productions. The company specialises in introducing unique and exciting new work to an international audience . It has proudly presented a broad range of productions over the years, and throughout the world. www.ghmp.co.uk

After is successful premiere at The Brighton Festival, GHP brought LOST AND FOUND ORCHESTRA to The Sydney Festival and to The South Bank Centre in 2008. The show also played Carre in Amsterdam this year.

GHP is the original co-producer of STOMP with the show’s creators Yes/No Productions and has promoted and general managed STOMP on tour worldwide (with the exception of North America) for 15 years and has general managed the show in the West End since 2002. Currently playing at The Ambassadors Theatre.

The company has managed award winning ENNIO MARCHETTO for over 16 years. Ennio ‘the living cartoon’ continues to tour worldwide www.enniomarchetto.com

GHP is the international promoter and general manager for SPAGHETTI WESTERN ORCHESTRA. The show premiered in 2007 and was the sell-out hit of The Montreal Jazz Festival. It then played L’Europeen Theatre in Paris, the St Pauli Theatre in Hamburg, the Koln Philharmonie and The Athenaeum Theatre In Melbourne. In 2008, the show returned to Montreal for the En Lumiere Festival at the Outremont Theatre and a season in Paris followed by a North American tour - receiving tremendous critical and audience response.

GHP is the worldwide management for SPYMONKEY, presenting Spymonkey’s Cooped at the Edinburgh Festival, Melbourne Comedy Festival and the Brighton Festival in 2006. The show subsequently played the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, the South Bank Centre, London and the Espoo Theatre, Finland. Cooped has played the New World Stage Festival at the Harbourfront Centre, Toronto and toured the Netherlands in Spring 2008. The show played at The Leicester Square Theatre, London as part of the Big Joke/Just For Laughs Festival in September 2008. Spymonkey's new show MOby Dick will premiere in September. www.spymonkey.co.uk

GHP is also the worldwide management for American comedy actor RICH FULCHER. A talented improvisor / comedian / writer, Rich has played Bob Fossil and other characters in three series of The Mighty Boosh for Baby Cow and BBC TV and Rich also toured the UK with The Mighty Boosh Live. He starred and co- wrote Snuffbox with Matt Berry. He is currently writing a film script. www.richfulcher.com

A new signing for 2009 - James: Rhodes www.jamesrhodespianist.com. James is a young, exciting and exceptionally talented pianist recently signed to Signum records. His debut CD, Razorblades, Little Pills and Big Pianos was released at the end of January 2009. James has just performed at the Southbank Centre and at The Roundhouse in London this year to great critical and audience acclaim.

GHP is the UK promoter for YAMATO - The Drummers of Japan. The show toured throughout the UK in April 2008.

GHP co-produced of THE OVERCOAT (conceived and directed by Morris Panych and Wendy Gorling) with the Canadian Stage Company in Toronto and the Bushnell Center USA.

“The Spaghetti Western Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the support of Arts Victoria and the Australia Council for the Arts”
© 2008 Spaghetti Western Orchestra & Respective Artists. Website designed by: PATRICK MORRIS (www.morrisdesignoffice.com)